The Jacksonville Symphony will give performances of “Hansel and Gretel,” a semi-staged opera featuring larger-than-life puppets, Friday-Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Jacoby Symphony Hall in The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, 300 Water St. Performances of the opera, composed in the early 1890s by Engelbert Humperdinck, will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, which range from $27 to $77, can be purchased at www.JaxSymphony.org, at the box office in The Times-Union Center or by calling (904) 354-5547.